MarylandNed

I agree. I remember going up Grouse Mountain and looking down at Vancouver and the ocean. The view was amazing. Simply stunning.

To each his own. Some will prefer Vancouver. Some will like somewhere else better. The same person might even have different preferences at different stages of life.

It's a good thing that Canadian cities such as Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal are so different from each other. The one thing they have in common is that they are all part of the greatest country on earth.

el_richo

Out of curiosity, why move to Vancouver?

dboy

Very true about life stages, when I was younger i was not impressed with the lack of night life (and it was considerably worse then), now I don't care as much, as bopping till all hours is not a part of my life, nor is trying to make friends or get a career going.

I do struggle at times with lack of character, where I live is seriously lacking in that department. But having said that, my modern aparment is more livable than a character apartment and the views of downtown, grouse mountain and the lions, sure helps, so there's a compromise.

Alan2005

The view of downtown from where you are is one of the best there is imo.

As much as I don't like the monolithic buildings and the almost soviet adherence to a single building style, from a distance they do look very striking.

ExKiwilass

Hmmm, depends. Where Van wins hands down over those cities is that people have actually thought about the future and how to make it work with transit etc, as opposed to just letting things sprawl on and on outwards without decent infrastructure. Vancouverism really works imo, having lived in cities of approx. the same age where there was no planning vision. But, I do think NZers are more willing to experiment with architecture than people here are. One thing I don't understand is why so many developments have to look the same, faux-colonial or faux arts and crafts. It's so boring. I can't decide if Canadians really like to play it safe with their homes or if the developers are too afraid to try something different and give people the choice. Maybe that's why character homes are so sought after? One thing that impressed the OH and I even in Palmy North, where I'm from, is how people are willing to build very modernist homes and try something different. But I also think the building standards here are much higher. I lived in some apartments in oz & nz that may have well been made of nylon for all the soundproofing and insulation they had.

Modern buildings wise I don't think Melbourne or Sydney, Auckland or Welly are much chop either. The old buildings are nice but old colonial buildings look good everywhere. I wish cities hung onto their character buildings more. But the new ones? meh. I dont remember being particularly blown away by architecture there, lots of brown brick & glass, which on hot days seemed to just add to the sense of being in a sauna. There isn't really a unifying vision like Van, there's no sense of needing to keep view corridors - one street of glass towers is much like another. The harbour area in Sydney is beautiful, but like M/ned pointed out, that's natural scenery not man-made. The most interesting modern buildings I've seen were in Asia- Hong Kong etc.

JonboyE

This I think. Why take a risk? To make money a large scale residential home builder has to convert buildings into cash as quickly as possible. Interesting homes take longer to sell.

There are modern, architect designed, homes about but they are often built by wealthy owners who can afford large enough lots to hide their homes from the street.

johnh009

Ottawa is okay in the small downtown core/By market area; otherwise, that's about it. Horrible climate, more humid than Toronto in summer and colder in winter.

I spent 23 years commuting in the GTA and hated it but I stuck it because I had a good job there. Otherwise, there are some really nice places on the outskirts of Toronto such as Stratford/Lake Huron area, Mennonite country, Halton Hills, Niagara escarpment, Trent system, etc. Like they say on the licence plate, you have to get out and discover these places.

Zercher

I had never visited Van or even Canada before, but I wanted to live and work and experience life abroad for a while and had heard amazing things about Vancouver. I also wanted to be close to the States so I could travel round it as much as possible. I haven't 'emigrated' like nearly all you folks on here, the plan was to come for around a year

Rodge9

If he can see them through the clouds that is ...seriously they are very pretty with snow on them and I do remember looking up at them when it was unseasonably warm/clear back in February working at the Olympic Village and thinking this was a pretty unique and fantastic experience - which it was, regardless of the opinions I subsequently formed on Vancouver

Ok two things which a friend of mine, originally from TO but who moved to Van some years ago (he's mid-30s) mentioned to me, were that in his opinion:

1) A lot of people from Vancouver hate Toronto and think the people there believe it to be the centre of the universe. However, the dislike is certainly not reciprocal and that a lot of people in Toronto actually like the idea of moving out to Vancouver and see it as some sort of laid-back, temperate west coast paradise.

2) People in Vancouver use the mountains, beaches and outdoor activities as reasons why it's a great city, even though they never (or rarely) do any of said activities.

I think I've been in Toronto long enough and spoken to enough people here now to say that I definitely agree with (1). Not so sure about (2) but it makes a certain amount of sense...

Incidentally I don't know why my friend hasn't left Vancouver, he didn't seem to know either...